Shallow Grave of Memories
by Snooze Button
Summary: Koba Minoru thinks she's a normal girl. Truth is, she has a dark past with the Sohmas. Her memories were erased because of an event that emotionally scarred her, Yuki, and Kyo. But her memories aren't buried deep. OCxYuki slight OCxKyo YukixOC Yuki/OC
1. That Numb Feeling

**Hey, guys! This is my first story, and I'd REALLY appreciate some reviews. But no flames. I appreciate constructive criticism, NOT flames. I hope this plot isn't too confusing. . . .**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Fruits Basket or any of the characters in this story except for Minoru. Duh. This is a Fruits Basket fan-fiction, right?**

* * *

_That Numb Feeling_

My eyes opened quietly, but not without effort, my every muscle working to execute the small movement. I saw a dark, open room, with plain, light-colored walls and a long expanse of polished floor.

It took me a minute to realize that my posture was unusual, sprawled on the floor with my cheek pressing against the gleaming wood, strands of ruby-red hair flowing over my face, giving the room a peculiar reddish tint. I attempted to hoist myself up into a more suitable position.

I felt it, the vibrations on the floor, before I heard it: the sound of hushed conversation, then the thumping of feet on floor as several people left the room.

I pushed myself up into a sitting position. I felt light-headed and nauseous, felt the sudden coldness come through the open door of the room. But it was odd, physically I could feel every pain, every comfort, but mentally I couldn't feel. I couldn't think. My mind was numb. That's why it didn't register to me that there were two other people in the room with me.

One man, looking around in his mid-twenties, stepped in front of me. I wasn't surprised or startled—it didn't mean anything to me.

He had black hair, some of it sweeping over one of his eyes, which both stared back at me with a careful, cold expression that made no sense to me, which wasn't surprising, as nothing did. He wore a white coat, which I took to establish that he was a doctor.

"Minoru," he said, quietly and calmly, and with a spark of recognition, I knew that Minoru was my name. "Do you know who I am?"

At the sound of his voice, something tugged at my memory, a dull, irritating feeling that broke me from my numb spell, almost too small to feel. Still, his question baffled me. I couldn't find any words to say, and I felt too nauseous to speak anyway. I shook my head.

The doctor's expression went from careful to a mixture of relieved and another expression that I couldn't understand. The next person to speak was the other stranger in the room.

"That's good, Hatori. She doesn't seem to remember anything." The voice was silky smooth, and as the stranger revealed himself, I realized by his attire and black hair falling into his eyes that he was another man, young, but one that spoke with more authority than the doctor.

"Escort her home," he ordered the doctor, whom I assumed was this Hatori, a smug and somehow devious smile twisting his handsome facial features.

"Yes, Akito," the quiet doctor replied. I stood and followed him out of the room, feeling no curiosity at all of the situation.

* * *

Shigure's house was quiet and dark, no occupants present. Sohma Shigure and his cousin, Sohma Yuki, stood outside the door. Both were silent as Shigure unlocked the door and flicked on the light.

They walked into the threshold of the house, still in an uncomfortable silence. Shigure tried to break the tension with some light banter.

"So, Yuki-kun, how about we have some take-out for dinner?"

"I'm not hungry," Yuki scoffed, but sat down at the table in the kitchen nonetheless. Then Shigure had an idea, a wicked idea that he knew would push his younger cousin's uptight buttons.

"So, I wonder where Kyo-kun is now, huh?" He said, feigning curiosity. He peeked at Yuki. "Probably halfway across the country. Maybe he'll train to be stronger than you again, Yuki-kun."

Yuki stood up. "I hope he's in hell," he hissed, and trudged upstairs to his room. Shigure heard a door slam.

Shigure suddenly felt guilty, which was unusual for him. He sighed.

_Sorry, Yuki-kun._

* * *

Sohma Momiji knocked on the door to Hatori's house impatiently. Hatori, despite the late hour and the ever-constant risk that the guest was Shigure or Sohma Ayame, opened the door to see the little blonde teenager, who ran inside the house, not needing an invitation.

"Hari! Where's Minoru-chan? How is she? Is she okay?!" the blonde said anxiously. Hatori sighed. It was too late for all of this commotion.

"She'll be fine, Momiji."

"_'Will be?'_ How is she right now, Hari?!"

Hatori sighed again. "You know it takes a while Momiji. It'll take a few weeks before she's completely okay. Like your mother." Hatori felt a tiny stab of guilt when he saw a small uncomfortable reaction in Momiji when he mentioned the boy's mother. but after a second, the hyper, anxious Momiji returned.

"I'm gonna go see her!"

"_Momiji,"_ Hatori said, more serious now. "You know no one can visit her. Her memories aren't buried deep. They might resurface if she sees any of the Sohmas." Momiji tried to be rebellious.

"But _Hari_--"

"Yuki can't see her, either. "In fact, he had to transfer middle schools. Do you know how much harder this must be for him? And Kyo ran away from Sohma house again. We may not see him for a few months. It's healthier for her if she doesn't remember us."

"But maybe," Momiji started, "after a while, she'd be okay knowing Kyo's secret. Maybe she'd stop being depressed after a while."

"It might not work like that. She was really depressed, and it wasn't healthy." Hatori convieniently forgot to mention that Momiji's mother couldn't get over the depression until her memories were erased.

Momiji bit his lip and changed the subject. "So Yuki's going to 9th grade somewhere else?"

"Yuki's trying to be mature about this. He knows that this is better for Minoru."

"Yeah. . . ." Momiji said. "I'm gonna be mature about it, too. I wanna help, too. But can I still watch over her? Like mom? To see if she's okay?"

Hatori didn't say anything for a while, but then replied, "Sure, Momiji."

* * *

**'Kay, that's all. Sorry it was short. I'll try to make chapter 2 longer. **

**(Japanese middle schools go up to 9th grade, unlike western middle schools.)**


	2. A New Beginning

_A New Beginning_

Two weeks. Two horrible, everlasting weeks. It was those two weeks that I spent in a daze, the only thing registering to me my mom's constant worry and my own name.

Koba Minoru.

I'd seen myself, my reflection, during those two weeks. It worried me how sallow and unhealthy I looked—my hair had lost all of its shine, my face had lost its glow, dark circles marred the beauty of the emerald green eyes above them.

I didn't understand anything of it, because back in the dark, musty corners of my memory, I knew that I had once been prettier than that, with a waterfall of flaming red hair that fell down to the middle of my back and flushed cheeks, however pale the rest of my skin had always been.

But what bothered me the most those two weeks was my emotions.

I knew one thing for sure: I was depressed. Very much so. Always threatened by meaningless tears, I couldn't laugh. I couldn't even _smile. _And more frusterating than the sadness was my motive for it all. Because I had none. There was no _reason_ for this depression, and therefore, nothing to heal it with.

So I spent those weeks quietly suffering.

I after those painful weeks, I could physically and mentally _feel_ myself recover. I started looking alive again (to Mom's relief) and my clarity returned; I interpreted things and could hold a conversation. I could smile again.

It's been eight months since then. Me and Mom (there isn't actually a dad or any siblings in the picture) never talk about those weeks, because there wasn't much to say anymore. That was it.

* * *

It was scorching today. So hot that it made much more sense to sit in front of an air conditioner all day than to go grocery shopping. I tried explaining this to Mom, but she just scowled at me and told me to get my priorities in order.

So there I was, struggling along with two monsterous paper bags in my arms, trying to make it home without severely injuring myself. It was a challenge, I have to admit. Especially since I wasn't paying attention to the task at hand.

I was transferring schools. I'd only been in thenth grade for two months, but I insisted on transferring. I wanted a fresh start, away from those girls that thought that I was conspiracing or something. I was transferring to Kaibara High.

After those two weeks of solitude-- I winced a little, remembering-- people had started interrogating me. Like I was a special girl that knew about _his _whereabouts.

"Where's Yuki-kun?" they would ask, glaring, as if it were _my_ fault that he was gone.

Sohma Yuki. For some inexplicable reason, that name made me cringe. However, I truly knew nothing of his whereabouts and could only reply with a blank stare.

I asked around about him, curious and pretty confused. Apperently, Sohma-san was in my grade, but in a different class than me. He'd transfered from our school while I was out "sick", and everyone thought that _I_ had something to do with it.

But why _had_ he left? What did it have to do with me?

I rounded the corner to my street, pondering this. The bags, one on top of the other (it was a dumb way to carry paper grocery bags, but the handle-straps had a tendency of tearing off) odscured my vision, so I had no way of knowing that someone was standing in front of me until I knocked into them.

"Oh, shoot," I sighed, shifting the groceries to the side and blushing. "I'm so sorry!"

But whoever it was was gone, the street empty. Huh.

I attempteed to walk on, but then tripped over something. I looked down and noticed some clothes strewn on the ground, right where the person had been. My cheeks flared, and I looked around, at loss for what to say.

I took adeep breath and decided to let it go, continuing to my house. Unknown to me, a little blond rabbit stealthily followed my progress, watching me from a careful distance.

* * *

(Japanese high school starts at grade 10 and goes to grade 12, unlike weastern high schools which start at grade 9)


	3. My first Twenty Seconds

_My First Twenty Minutes_

I stood there, in front of the door to my impending terror: Kaibara High School. I guess I was pretty intimidated. What were these students like? Would they take kindly to a new addition to their society?

I would have _loved _to just stand there all day, but the rush of students was going to be hear soon. I might as well just go to the office and introduce myself—it seemed a lot less scary. So I braced myself and headed in.

Inside there was a cool, homey, familiar feeling, like there was at my old high school. It made me feel a little more confident, noticing the plain walls and wide windows that were so similar to my old school's.

I wandered, thankful for being twenty minutes early. It gave me a chance to get lost in the halls before getting my paperwork (or whatever new students had to get) from the main office.

I turned a sharp corner and ran smack into someone, knocking their books to the floor. I could tell this was gonna be a great day.

"I'm really sorry," I sighed, mortified, cheeks scarlet. But it was drowned out by her montage of frantic apologies.

"I'm so sorry!" the girl gasped, getting on her hands and knees to gather her books. I joined her on the floor, arranging some of her books in a neat stack. She was average-looking, but still pretty, I guess. She had long, straight brown hair down to her waist, with a ribbon tying a little section of it back. Her bangs fell into her face right in front of her big, blue eyes.

When she'd finished her pile, I handed her my stack.

"Ah- thank you!" she said, taking her binders and books. She gave me a smile I didn't deserve, but it was the most genuine smile I'd ever seen.

"Er-" I started, flustered by this girl's kind innocence. "No problem." She nodded at me, not really in reply to my statement, but in acknowledgement, and then gave me an inquiring look.

"Eh . . . are you new here?" she asked me delicately.

"Oh, uh, yeah!" I said, flustered again. Was it that noticable? So much for blending in. . . . "I'm Koba Minoru."

She shifted her books, her warm smile coming back. She tilted her head. "Koba-san . . . ?" she tried. I shook my head hurriedly, embarrassed by her formality.

"Just Minoru-chan."

"I'm Honda Tohru," she said, "but you can call me Tohru-chan."

"Tohru-chan. . . ." I repeated, smiling tentatively.

* * *

Tohru-chan showed me to the office, politely as ever. I have to admit, I was a little intimidated by this pleasant figure beside me. Though we'd addressed each other like close friends, I really knew nothing about her. She seemed to be thinking along those lines as well.

"So, Minoru-chan . . ." sh started, and I was a little startled, lost in my thoughts during our silence. "why have you transfered here?"

I thought about my answer for a little bit, trying to find the words. She misinterpreted my silence.

"Er," she said, blushing, "I mean, I don't mean to pry. . . ."

"No, it's okay," I said, done looking through my mental dictionary. I started my story.

"My mom and I both decided that it might be better for my to have a fresh start. You know, Clean slate, etcetera.

"In my first high school, there was a bit of a commotion about me and one of the other kids that had transfered. Not to mention a few bad memories and such. We just thought it might be a good idea to start over.

"We couldn't really go very far away, because my mom has to work three jobs here and it would be hard to find three more. So, I ended up here."

Tohru-chan gave me a sympathetic smile. "It must be hard."

"Sometimes," I allowed, "but honestly, me and my mom just try to make the best of things. Without my dad in the picture, it's just us."

Tohru-chan didn't press me, but I could tell that she was interested in my dad's story, just too polite and considerate to ask. She had accepted me and made me comfortable in this alien environment. For some inexplicable reason, I had to tell this girl, this girl that I knew was possibly one of the best people I'd ever met. I simply _wanted_ to tell her my dad's story. Tell her and be unjudged.

"I don't know my dad," I said, starting my story. "I've seen pictures, but I never met him.

"He was my mom's high school boyfriend, you see. She had me when she was fifteen. Naturally, my dad promised he'd be there for my mom, but flaked out on her a few months after I was born." I rolled my eyes. "Apperently, that was just like him to do."

And then there was silence. I was embarrassed for bringing up this story; my mom wasn't exactly very proud of it. But then Tohru-chan spoke.

"Your mom sounds like a great person," she said quietly, in almost a whisper. "She works so hard to take care of you. . . . You both are very brave."

I was embarrassed, but I felt light like a huge weight was lifted off of my shoulders. I looked at Tohru-chan and saw her expression.

I could tell at once that she wasn't judging me or my mom, not one bit, by my mom's mistake. She looked at me in reverence and sympathy for me, and I could tell, for my mother. And I could feel the relieved, happy tears in my eyes, that had come without my noticing. I smiled back, wiping my eyes with the back of my hand. And then we were in the office, and I had to try to get my wits about me again.

* * *

The main office was cooler than the hallways, but looked pretty similar, with the same white walls and tiled floor. The only thing different were the furniture and peaople in it. It was pretty empty, with the exception of two boys looking around my age, who were talking to each other. When the door closed behing me and Tohru-chan, they were alerted of our presence.

They were approximately the same height, but looked very different. One was a brunette with thick, nearly-opaque glasses.

The other had siler hair that brushed over his forehead and into his eyes (the same color) and sections that hung around his face, which, though was most definetly a boy's, it had some feminine qualities to it that just added to his handsomeness.

They both turned to us and suddenly, and, looking at the second boys face, I had the most unnerving feeling, like I'd forgotten something I was about to say and my mind was desperately searching for it.

The boy's eyes stayed locked on my face, not even looking at Tohru-chan, and his expression was unreadable. The brunette didn't notice our reactions.

"Oh! Is this Koba Minoru, the new transfer? Principal's told me about you." The silver-haired boy's expression looked resigned, as if the brunette had confirmed his fears.

"I'm President Takei! Thank you for bringing her, Honda-san," he continued. Tohru-chan smiled. Takei noticed my glance at the second boy.

"Oh and this is one of your classmates," Takei said, looking at the boy woth only respect. "Sohma Yuki."


	4. My first Day minus the Twenty Seconds

_My First Day (Minus the Twenty Minutes)_

I didn't know what to say, so I just stood there, motionless and bewildered, staring at Sohma Yuki. He met my eyes for a little while, but then looked away. Tohru-chan looked from Me to Sohma-san curiously. Takei watched our awkward exchange of looks.

"Uhm. . . ." Takei started.

The bell rang suddenly, and Takei found something to say. "Er, Honda-kun, you should probably head to class."

"Eh, yes," she said, and with a nod (or maybe a bow?) to all of us, she exited the room. I watched her leave, feeling my only shred of comfort and familiarity leave me. I was suddenly back in a strange environment.

"Should I go with her?" Sohma-san asked Takei-san. To my dismay, he seemed a little desperate to leave the room.

"Wait, Yuki-kun," President said. "You, Honda-kun and Koba-san are all in the same class, right?" Sohma-san nodded stiffly.

"Then could you escort Koba-san to class? And maybe guide her a bit during her first day?"

Sohma-san nodded, resigned. I looked to Takei-san, wondering if I had to do something else, being a new student. He answered my unasked question.

"Just follow Yuki-kun today, Koba-san. You're already registered."

"Okay," I said, a bit uncomfortable with these arrangements. I bowed to the class president andreluctantly followed Sohma-san out of the main office.

My silent companion and I made our way down the already-deserted hallways. Apperently, the classroom was, rather inconveniently, on the other side of the school.

Passing by filled classrooms, I could hear the chatter of students, echoing around the dead-quiet hallways. It was so awkward, following Sohma-san. I couldn't shake the feeling that he didn't particularly like my company.

"Er-" I started, not knowing what to say. He didn't look at me, and I was intimidated. "Sohma-san. Um, d-didn't you used to go to my middle school?

He turned and looked at me, finally. It was hard not to admire his beauty close up.

"Yes," he said, wearing an expression I didn't understand, "but I had to transfer out for . . . personal reasons."

He turned away, and it was more awkward than before. I realized that he was surrounded by an aura of mystery, and any new topics of conversation caught in my throat.

And suddenly, we were at the classroom.

The classroom was full and, not to mention, loud. Class hadn't started yet, and everyone was laughing and gossiping to eachother. Sohma-san took a seatnear the window. I noticed that his seat was surrounded by girls, which, at his approach, smiled sweetly and batted their eyelashes rather ridiculously. Sohma-san, however, only acknowledged them with a friendly, polite smile. But that seemed good enough for the flushed, excited girls.

I searched for an empty desk, and, to my astounding luck, found one right behind Tohru-chan.

I seated myself in the empty desk, and Tohru-chan smiled warmly at me. To her right was a blond girl with thin eyebrows and a long skirt, wearing a particularly intimidating bored expression on her face. To Tohru-chan's left was a girl equally daunting, with her sleek black hair pulled into a braid down her back and her coal black eyes staring unblinkingly ahead of her.

Tohru-chan had been talking to the blond girl before I sat down. Both the blonde and Tohru-chan now turned their attention to me.

"Hello, Minoru-chan," Tohru-chan said brightly, "These are my friends, Uo-chan" --she gestured to the blonde-- "and Hana-chan," now pointing at the black-haired girl, who now turned to look at me, still quite expressionless.

I nodded at them both, putting on a timid smile.

"And this is Minoru-chan," she introduced me to Hana-san and Uo-san. Hana-san smiled, but the look was eerie, rather than warm. Uo-san didn't smile, but eyed me in menacing curiosity.

"So, how do you know Prince Charming?" Uo-san asked, but it sounded more like a demand. It took me a moment to realise that she was talking about Sohma-san.

"Oh, er, I don't really. He used to go to my middle school," I said, shrugging, trying to look nonchalant. Uo-san seemed disappointed at my lack of interesting news and resumed her bored pose. Hana-san, however, spoke to me in a monotonous voice, though she had started reading a book in her lap.

"Your waves are hard to understand. . . . It's like I can sense some feelings around you, but some are . . . hidden."

I stared blankly at Hana-san. Apperently this was normal behavior, because Tohru-chan seemed unfazed, as if Hana-san had been commenting on the weather, and Uo-san was nodding knowingly. I simply gawked until the teacher entered the room and began roll call.

* * *

I progressed through my first day, following Tohru-chan and her friends, whom I knew now the names of: "Uo-chan's" name was actually Uotani Arisa, and "Hana-chan's" name was Hanajima Saki. They tolerated my presence, not as accepting as Tohru-chan, but relaxed in my presence. But still, they had a friendly aura around them once they had become a little more comfortable with me around.

Sohma-san was in the same class as me, but we stayed out of eachothers' way. He was polite, I suppose, but seemed a little tense just being in the same room as me, as if I had some kind of contagious disease. He was popular, always surrounded by a gaggle of gossiping girls, and always polite and smiling around them, though I noticed that he seemed to keep his distance.

"He's single," Arisa-san had explained unconcernedly during cooking class. "Doesn't seem to want a girlfriend."

In cooking class, Tohru-chan, Arisa-san, Saki-san and I shared a table and made simple dishes. It was very easy, really, because Tohru-chan, an excellent cook, seemed content to do all of the work. I tried to help her out, but, in light of her expertise, I realised I was just getting in the way. So I just sat and talked, timidly as ever, with Arisa-san, while Tohru-chan happily chatted about work with Saki-san. Then, quite suddenly, Saki-san piped into mine and Arisa-san's conversation.

"Prince's waves are acting a lot more tense today," she commented. "Excuse me, but I think you may have something to do with it, Minoru-chan." She had adopted Tohru-chan's name for me, keeping the familiar suffix. "They're very hectic when he's around you. . . ."

"Huh," Arisa-san grunted before I could say anything. "Did you do something to offend him or something in your old school?" I shook my head quicky.

"No! I mean, I hardly knew him."

"Maybe something else is on his mind," Tohru-chan suggested, checking the rice.

"Maybe," I allowed, but I didn't really believe it.

* * *

I'd walked home alone after school, after saying goodbye to Tohru-chan, Arisa-san, and Hana-san. My mom, of course, wouldn't be waiting for me at home; she hadfar too much work to do. So I took my time, just thinking.

So, Sohma-san was especially tense around me? _Had_ I offended him in middle school? I racked my brain, trying to remember something I'd done to him back then. . . .

I turned a corner and, think of the devil, almost walked into Sohma-san.

"Ah!" I jumped when I saw him and slipped, falling on my back.

"I-uh," I stuttered, propping myself up on my elbows. "S-sorry, Sohma-san."

Sohma-san looked surprised, and, after second, a ver awkward second, held out his hand to help me up. I took it gratefully, but also timidly.

"T-thank you, Sohma-san," I said, blushing furiously. The sunset had dyed the sky pink and his silver hair gleamed dully in the light.

"I'm sorry, Mi-" he stopped and revised, "Koba-san." His voice sounded distant, as though, he, too were lost in thought.

"Oh, no, it's fine! I just slipped," I said hastily. I smiled warmly at him, though, still blushing. I wanted to be as friendly as I could, as, evidently, I made him so uncomfortable. He seemed startled at my smile, though, and his face twisted into a look of . . . content? And he smiled back. A beautiful, real smile.

"Um, Sohma-san?" I asked, wanting to clarify something. "Er, I'm sorry if I've made you upset or something. . . ."

"What?" he asked, uncomprehending.

"Er, I mean, you seemed a bit . . . tense at school today." I blushed scarlet again. Why did I have to bring this up? But he smiled again, this time apolegetically, and somewhat sad.

"No, it's okay. I've just had. . . something on my mind," he said, and I could tell that he was thinking about something. Possibly that thing that was on his mind.

There was another awkward silence, and I allowed the relief to flood through me. I smiled.

"O-okay. Um, I guess I'll see you, tomorrow, Sohma-san!" I said. Sohma-san nodded, and I left him there on the sidewalk, considerably less apprehensive than before.


	5. Suspicious Behavior

**Okay, I really HAVE to thank all of you for your reviews. They're so appreciated, and helps with the whole motivation thing. Thank you so much for reviewing and reading thus far! :)**

* * *

_Suspicious Behavior_

After a few days, I fell into the rut of regular school life again. It was nice, really, noticing on my third day of school how quickly I had adjusted.

Well, maybe I had a ways to go before I was really "adjusted." I'd fallen into a little clique, Tohru-chan, Arisa-san and Saki-san, but they were the only people that could remember my name, even after hearing it in the mornings four days in a row. And I couldn't say that I was used to the big school's layout, or Sohma-san's unnerving tensity when I was around, although he seemed to act a little more naturally than before. Still, as Saki-san had kindly informed me, his "waves" still went haywire while I was around.

"You both have interesting wave activity, actually," Saki-san had said vaguely yesterday during lunch. "His waves are always . . . different. Darker than a normal human's. And yours, that seem so much like a basic person's, but there's something, some other, fainter waves, under the surface." She then returned to her soup, as did I, as I was growing used to her wave reports.

Today, on my fourth day of school, I marveled about the latest wave report on my way to school. I was slow, taking my time as always and kicking little stray pieces off the sidewalk. I'd made a habit of being early for school thus far, as I had been late a lot in my old school. Sure enough, though, I'd probably fall back into my old bad habits.

So, Sohma-san was still so . . . emotional around me. I supposed that that could be a good thing-- maybe I made him happy! But, no, I'd hardly spoken to him, let alone done something to make him happy.

Maybe he was shy, and nervous around new students. But then, how could someone like him be so shy when he was constantly followed by a gang of affectionate girls?

_Had_ I done something to offend him in middle school, as Arisa-san had said? I racked my brain, searching for _something_. But, as frusteratinmg as it was, I couldn't remember at all the name Sohma Yuki, nor his handsome (I had to admit it) facial features, or his soft, refined voice in my middle school climate.

I turned a corner around the block, seeing around a chain-link fence that seperated the school from the park. The massive building lay ahead of me, far from comforting, far from home, but feeling kind of like a frequented convenient store-- familiar, but not home.

I opened the doors to the school, feeling the cool air that gave me goosebumps on my thighs. I didn't really mind how the school uniform loooked on me-- heck, I thought the whole sailor thing was pretty cool at first! --but I wished the damned skirt could be a little longer, like Saki-san's (Arisa-san's seemed a little too long, nearly sweeping the floor).

I shivered, hiking up my knee-high socks, which were thin, but warm enough. I went into my homeroom classroom, empty, and opened my schoolbag, pulling out a magazine. It had been uncharacteristically in the halls, drafty I guess, because outside it was scorching. But in this empty classroom, with morning light pouring through the window, magazine in hand, I was pretty comfortable.

School wasn't going to start for another fifteen minutes, so I was pretty surprised when I heard loud, feminine voices not ten minutes later. Curiosity getting the better of me, I peeked around the door into the hallway and, bless my curiosity, saw Tohru-chan in what seemed like a heated argument between four girls (whose names I didn't remember) that I recognized as enthusiastic members of the Prince Yuki fanclub.

I looked at them quizzically, catching pieces of what they were saying.

"Well?!" demanded what looked like their leader, a girl with pigtails and a vein throbbing in her temple. "Why did you and Yuki come to school together?! Explain!" The other girls agreed furiously, though not getting in Tohru-chan's face like Pigtail-Girl.

"I-it's just a coincidence!" Tohru-chan gasped, looking apolegetic. "Don't you think you might be over reacting?"

"Idiot!" the girl hissed. "If those coincidences were legal, we wouldn't need the police!" More angry agreement from the other girls.

Seeing that girl and her backup talk like that to Tohru-chan was too much for me. Who did the think they were?! I decided to intervene.

"Who do you think you are?!" I nearly yelled, fuming. "Sohma-san's guard of honor or something? What's it to you if they arrived at the same time?"

"Hello, Minoru-chan," Tohru chan said politely to me.

"You mind your own business, Koba!" Pigtails snapped at me. "You have nothing to do with this! And you," she threw at Tohru-chan, "Just 'cause Sohma-kun's nice enough to hang out with you, doesn't mean you get get a swelled head!"

"I'm not!"

"Hey!"

We all looked around, except for Pigtails,who was looking livid. Arisa-san and Saki-san were here, and Arisa-san looked even more menacing than usual.

"She said it was a coincidence, right?" Arisa-san growled. "Quit fantasizing and get a life."

"W-what, you're threatening us with your gangster friend?" the girl retorted vehemently, far from unfased. "We're not done with you just because of this yankee!" The other girls muttered darkly behing her. That's when Saki-san stepped in.

"I could-" (static inturrupted her voice for a second with a _beep) _-"them with electro-poison waves. . . ." she breathed monotonously.

The gang bolted, sprinting as fast as they could.

"Thank you. . . ." Tohru-chan said, seemingly lossed for other words.

"Oh, you poor thing," Arisa-san said motherly, hugging Tohru-chan. She had a soft spot for the girl. "Hanajima, don't zap anyone."

* * *

The rest of the day went pretty uneventfully.

We went through our classes, Tohru-chan, Arisa-san and I, and I noticed that Tohru-chan seemed a little . . . off-color. She'd always been working so hard, o when the conversation went to her work after school, I tried to convince her to take a sick day.

"N-no, I can't!" she gasped flushed, returning to her lunch. "I'm fine, really."

And apart from Tohru-chan's work-ethic, I was a little frustrated. Why couldn't I have done something for Tohru-chan? I came to her rescue, or so I'd thought, and the pigtailsgirl just brushed me off. Arisa-san and Saki-san were able to help. . . .

It was just because I was new, unknown, I reasoned, comforting myself. But I couldn't shake the feeling that, even if I _was_ less timid, more _known_, I wasn't outspoken enough to really stand up for someone.

And, I wondered when school was finally over, climbing a steep hill towards my neighborhood, _why_ had Tohru-chan come to school with Sohma-san?

I felt something, a sinking feeling, which, though it didn't really make sense to me, probably had something to do with my confusion, I guessed.

Was there something between them? Were they good friends? Or maybe more than that?

But then I stopped. I was being just like Pigtail-girl, making a mountain out of a hill and obsessing over that unimportant boy. I continued on my way, keeping my thoughts on happier things, not letting them stray to Sohma-san.

I would have found that harder if I'd known that hours later, Tohru-chan would be sleeping in Sohma-san's house.

* * *

Honda Tohru had drifted to sleep on a futon in Sohma Shigure's house. Yuki was preparing to go out and fetch poor Tohru's belongings from a pile of rubble a ways away from Shigure's house. Tohru, ill and overworked, had been living in a tent on Shigure's property, and, due to unfortunate circumstances, a landslide destroyed her home.

Yuki watched her face, thinking. Shigure had suggested letting her stay at this house. Actually _live_ with them. He had nothing against Honda-san, but she was so close to Minoru-chan. . . .

As his thoughts went to Minoru, he felt as though a weight was set on his shoulders. She was at his school now, always in such close proximity with him. What if her memory resurfaced?

But a part of him wanted them to resurface-- the same part that, at the face of her smile, one that he hadn't seen in so long, couldn't hold back bliss.

And the other part, the less selfish, more compassionate part, never wanted her to remember. To feel what she'd felt before her memories were taken from her.

Shigure looked up at his cousin.

"Are you alright?" he asked lazily, bringing Yuki back from his thoughts. "Something on your mind?"

"I'm fine. . . ." he muttered, and left for the ruins of Tohru's home. But he was lying.


	6. A New, Unfriendly Face

**Hey guys! Thanks again for the reviews, they're very inspiring if you know what I mean. Oh, and I'm sorry its taken me so long to update. I'll try harder from now on! It's just that my computer is inoperable. Oh, and I suppose you're in your rights to verbally lynch me in your reviews. . . . that is, as long as you do review, which I beg you to do!**

* * *

_A New, Unfriendly Face_

The days had been as boring and normal as always, though I had to say, spending these days with Arisa-san, Saki-san and Tohru-chan was more comfortable than I had ever been at my old school. Nothing out of the ordinary really happened, unless you counted Tohru-chan's distracted behavior around Sohma-san.

For some reason, the way she smiled at him and shifted her attention to him as he entered the room bothered me a bit. I couldn't really explain the pang of unease. Maybe I had grown a bit attatched to the silver hair and gentle, reserved eyes. But, I decided, the feelings of resentment were probably from my paranoia of Tohru-chan keeping a secret from me. For the two seemed to share a different relationship from when I first came to Kaibara High, though I couldn't put my finger on it.

But nothing too out of the ordinary happened until today. There was the usual buzz of chattering students. But this time the voices were more excited and almost all feminine, while the boys watched with raised eyebrows and half sulky, half amused expresions.

Instinctively, I looked at Sohma-san, as he _was _the most popular boy in school, especially for the girls. But he was not, however, in the center of attention.

Girls were still talking to him, and I caught snatches of what they were saying:

". . . true your cousin just transfered here? Introduce us!"

Sohma-san smiled politely. "I'm sorry, Senpai. He is my cousin, but we're not close. I don't even speak to him."

But his smile had a faint, almost unnoticable but menacing air; a coolness that went past cold and straight to frigid. Tohru-chan seemed to shiver beside me.

It was then that I noticed a different face in the room. With his flaming orange hair, it was surprising that I hadn't noticed him before. Girls had flocked around him, sometimes shielding him from view and chattering enthusiastically.

"Huh? They don't look alike!"

"He's cute!"

"Is that his natural color?"

"Are you really Sohma-kun's cousin?!"

He was very tense, and it was noticable. He seemed very nervous, probably unused to all the female attention.

"His hair certainly is interesting," Arisa-san said absent-mindedly. "It's a little like Kyoko-san's color."

"Now you mention it, it is!" said Tohru-chan cheerily.

"They're the same," droned Saki-san, braiding Tohru-chan's hair.

"Ah, sorry Ko-chan!" Tohru sighed apologetically, but I shook my head, willing them to go on.

Kyoko-san, I knew, was Tohru-chan's mother. She'd died earlier this year, but Arisa-san and Saki-san both had known her well. As Tohru-chan had both parents deceased now, she was living with her grandfather.

Arisa-san had come up with the name "Ko-chan" (for Koba), saying that it was what Kyoko-san would've called me. Both "Uo-chan" and "Hana-chan" were names of Kyoko-san's invention, but only Tohru-chan used them. As Arisa-san never called me "Ko-chan," and by the contented look on her face when Tohru-chan cheerfully used the nickname, I guessed that the name had been for Tohru-chan's benefit.

Just then, the new student turned towards me and our eyes met. I had the same peculiar feeling as I had when I'd first met Sohma-san: a feeling of trying to remember something that I'd just forgotten, my mind desperately searching.

His eyes locked onto mine, his widening into a look of a powerful emotion. It was hate, the most malevolent loathing I'd ever witnessed, plus something that looked like anguish. He was frozen looking at me, and malice seemed to radiate out of his every pore. I wasn't prepared at all for what happened next.

In my mind I saw, not his eye, but a larger, more menacing red eye of a monster, fixed on my with a kind of horrifying contempt. A grotesque, distorted sillhouette of some kind of animal came to mind, and in my head, I smelled the disgusting sent of rotting flesh that made my insides squirm and my skin crawl

I stood, rooted to the spot, looking into the new kid's glaring eyes with what I imagined to be an expression of utmost terror and revulsion on my face. Heads turned curiously in my direction and I suddenly felt like I was going to be sick, looking into those angry, sad eyes.

I turned and nearly ran to the door, trembling and elbowing people out of the way, unaware of who I was shoving but all too aware of Tohru-chan's concerned eyes on my back.

At the doorway I saw, from the corner of my eye, Sohma-san. His eyes were locked on mine and I saw, briefly, undisguised fear in them, fear and sorrow, before I left the room and sprinted for the girls' bathroom.

* * *

The classroom was buzzing louder than ever. Sohma Kyo, acting most unlike Sohma Yuki, ditched school, daringly jumping out of the window while stunned girls watched. The girls murmured about what had just happened.

"Ah! Is he okay?!"

"How'd he survive a fall like that?!"

"What did Koba do to him to piss him off so much?"

Nobody even noticed Sohma Yuki and Honda Tohru leave. That is, with the exception of Uotani and Hanajima.

"_Those _were some interesting waves," Hanajima drawled quietly. Uotani raised her thin eyebrows and the corners of her lips twitched up.

"Even without your wave reports, I think I got the gist of it," said Uotani, not bothering to keep her voice down. She looked at her companion inquiringly. "D'you have any idea why?"

Hanajima gave her head a fraction of a shake and whispered, "His waves are like Prince's. So . . . _different_. In fact, when he saw Minoru, his waves were so much darker than Prince's. . . ."

Though it was always hard to tell with Hanajima, she seemed a tad frustrated. Uotani, however, looked disappointed. She bounced back pretty quickly.

"Maybe they went to school before," said Uotani with renewed enthusiasm. "Maybe its a middle school grudge." Hanajima nodded.

"Yes, I think they knew eachother. . . ." said Hanajima, still whispering. "Well, at least, Sohma Kyo did. They're all so dificult to read. Minoru seemed confused outwardly but there was something . . . different, underneath."

"Well, I guess we'll just have to see," said a resigned Uotani. She sighed.

* * *

I shut the bathroom door, slowly. It was odd, feeling as sick as I was, pasty as I was, I felt so much better without seeing _him. . . ._

Sohma Kyo. . . . who was this new enigma? That feeling was almost like the one I had with Yuki-san. . . . except, of course, for the fear and ill.

It was then, pondering this, that I realised that there was someone else in the hallway. An ashen-faced Sohma Yuki, frozen mid-step with his eyes locked on mine.

"Ah!" I gasped, reddening, suddenly unusually embarrassed. "S-Sohma-san. . . . er, I was just feeling a little, er, sick. . . ." And I turned even redder at how he might have taken that.

When Sohma-san was still silent, I tried to think of something more tactful to say, but my mind was in complete disarray. Finally, Sohma-san spoke.

"Koba-san, are you sure you're alright?" he asked, a little awkwardly. I was blushing more by the second.

"Uh, I-"

"I can bring you to the nurse," he reumed, looking almost as embarrassed and awkward as I felt. He wasn't completely meeting my eyes and he stared resolutely at the floor. "And I'll tell Sensei you've gone. . . ."

"Ah, no, it's okay!" I said. "I-I'm fine, really. But . . . thank you." I was still scarlet, but my insides felt light and airy. Sohma-san had been worrying about me. . . . I smiled at him. When he looked back, he smiled, too, a kind of smile that was different from his usual smile, though I couldn't put my finger on the change.

"Um, Sohma-san," I started, wanting to shake a nagging suspicion. "Is Sohma Kyo-san usually like . . . _that_?"

His face fell, and he looked serious and, maybe I was imagining it, evasive. "Ah. . . . Koba-san, don't worry about him. He's just . . . not feeling well today." He didn't meet my eyes when he said it. I nodded anyway.

"Well, Sohma-san, we should be getting back to class. . . ."

* * *

Sohma Yuki was walking home after school, still brooding over the day's disaster. Out of all the reactions Koba-san could have had, that was the worst. What if it brought back some memories?

Suddenly, he was aware of another presence, none other than Sohma Kyo's.

"What's _she _doing there?" he hissed, not wasting time on introductions. "Does Akito know?"

Yuki shook his head. "And I don't plan on telling him."

"Well, you're not gonna be able to keep it from him forever, _I'll_-"

"_You're_ gonna tell him, are you?" Yuki sneered. "Yeah, right."

Kyo's fury seemed beyond words, so he settled for a curse and left him there, going who knows where. Yuki continued on his way, feeling a twinge of sorrow and regret. Not for Kyo, no, but for Minoru, and what he knew he might do to her by staying.


	7. The Walls Break

**A/N: Whew! this is my longest chapter yet. Um, as usual, I'd appreciate it if you'd review! Really, that's what keeps this writing machine going! Er, I've tried really hard not to procrastinate, and I think it paid off. If I hadn't simultaneously been writing a draft for a possible Oliver Twist fanfiction, it would have been up sooner. . . . Oh well, anyway, the next chapter should be up soon. Look forward to it!**

_The Walls Break_

I stood with Saki and Arisa, outside the door to a very traditional-looking Japanese home. The others were so calm, cool and collected I was unnerved. But then, they didn't have my reasons for being terrified. I hadn't spoken to Sohma Kyo-san since the incident, and to go so far as to visit his and Yuki-san's _house_. . . .

I didn't have time to gain my composure when a cheerful Tohru-chan opened the door, greeting us politely and gesturing to us for the residents in a game show host kind of manner.

"This is Uotani Arisa, Hanajima Saki, and Koba Minoru!" she beamed. "They're my best friends."

Flattered as I was by Tohru-chan's statement (was I already one of her best friends?), I couldn't get words past the lump in my throat. But my comfortable companions were infurioatingly nonchalant.

"Hiya," said Arisa.

"Nice to meet you," drawled Saki.

There were three spectators: Yuki-san, who just looked indifferently polite, Kyo-san, staring resolutely away from me, and a taller man with black hair whom I knew to be Sohma Shigure, Yuki-san and Kyo-san's older cousin.

He waved enthusiastically at us. "Yo!" But there was definitley a sort of well-disguised strain about him when he looked at me. I had the feeling that Shigure-san was a very good actor.

Eyes locked on Kyo-san, fear gripped me. How had I convinced myself to go through with this? And I remembered the day of my invitation, when Tohru-chan gave me an unsettling surprise.

* * *

"What!?" demended an alarmed Arisa. I myself sat rooted to the spot at Tohru-chan's news. "You used to live in a tent? And now you've moved in with Prince?!"

We were eating lunch outside, on a mat stretched out in the grass outside of Kaibara High. I ate my sandwich slowly, digesting both food and information. I _knew_ there was something going on between Yuki-san and Tohru-chan. For some reason, resentment flowed through me. Why? Was I disappointed that Tohru-chan didn't trust me enough to tell me a secret right off the bat? Or was it something else. . . .

"Yes," Tohru-chan replied, looking guilty. "Sorry for not telling you. . . . Many things happened, but it's all fine now. They're all good people, so please don't worry about me!"

"That's . . . shocking news," droned Saki. "If Sohma Yuki's fangirls find out, there may be trouble."

"No wonder . . ." said Arisa, looking distant. "I had a feeling you, Prince and Orange-Top were pretty close. . . ." I nodded.

"Yeah, I noticed something weird about you guys going on. . . ." I said.

"Do you mind if we come and visit you?" asked Saki suddenly.

"Huh?" squeaked Tohru-chan.

"If I see where you're living, I'll be able to relax," continued Saki.

"Great idea, Hanajima!" gushed an enthusiastic Arisa. "Let's go now!"

"Ah-" said Tohru-chan, quietly trying to interrupt.

"No," drawled Saki. "If we just show up uninvited, they won't have any tea ready."

"Er-"

"That's true," said Arisa, calming down a bit. "I guess we'll have to tell them we're coming in advance. Then we'll wait for the weekend. It's settled, then. We're going to go and stay the night!"

"Ok. . . ." said Tohru-chan, defeated.

I'd been quiet. It had been a little over a week since the incident with Sohma Kyo, and since then, neither Yuki-san, as I'd now decided to call him with the arrival of another Sohma, nor Kyo-san had really spoken to me. Kyo-san ignored me vehemently, Yuki-san just seeming a bit distant. What would happen when I went to their house?

* * *

"Please come and make yourselves at home!" said Sohma Shigure-san, welcoming us. His eyes were stubbornly looking away from me. Saki's eyes were locked on something else.

". . . . A Dog," she droned.

Shigure-san, Kyo-san and Yuki-san visibly tensed, frozen where they stood for a second.

"There's a dog in here," she continued, and sure enough, on the porch in the back of the house, a mutt playfull wagged its tail. The ice melted, and the Sohmas tense postures relaxed.

"Eh?" gasped Shigure-san, gibbering on. "Ah . . . a rea-. . . er, I mean, there really is a dog! Come in, come in!"

"Excuse me. . . ." said Arisa, rather politely. "You're Shigure, right? What do you do?"

"Heh? Ah, I'm a novelist!"

Tohru-chan looked more surprised than any of us, dropping the bottle she was carrying, which Saki caught effortlessy.

"You're a _novelist_?!?!" she gasped.

"What, Tohru?!" exclaimed a startled Arisa.

"Why are you so surprised?" asked Saki.

"You had no idea what he did for a living, did you Tohru-chan?" I guessed wryly.

"You write novels?" asked Yuki-san skeptically as Tohru-chan blushed and sat quietly. "Pure, literary novels?"

"Mm-hm," Shigure-san confirmed, taking up a book. "Like this one!"

He held the book up for us to see, and we looked curiously. On the cover was a young, adorable and vulnerable schoolgirl, posing rather helplessly with tears in her eyes. The title read, _A Summer-Colored Sigh_.

I froze, skin crawling. Stupid pervert.

"Ah!" Shigure-san started, noticing our stunned faces. "Sorry, not that one! No, I meant this one." He held up a much tamer-looking book. "that other one was just a side-project. . . ."

"It doesn't change the fact that you wrote it, does it?" hissed Arisa, looking disgusted.

"You pervert," growled a disgruntled Kyo-san.

"What are you doing?" said Yuki-san, equally unsettled.

"One of the people close to me is a real novelist!" Tohru-chan gushed admiringly, having regained her composure and blushing furiously.

"Don't praise him Honda-san, he'll get arrogant," said Yuki-san.

"I don't see how he can get any worse," grumbled Kyo-san.

I watched Tohru-chan converse, so nonchalantly, with Yuki-san, how casual they were. She seemed even closer with them than she was with me. . . . Irrationally, my heart sank a bit, seeing how naturally and comfortably Yuki-san bantered with her, knowing, deep down, that he never seemed to be comfortable and at ease with himself around me. I found myself jealous--jealous of Tohru-chan for her relationship with Yuki-san, jealous of Yuki-san for his relationship with Tohru-chan.

"Oh!" Tohru-chan gasped suddenly. "I just remembered something! Ah, sorry, wait here a second, please." Shigure-san ducked out of the room, too.

"Sorry, I can't stay either," he said, his eyes meeting mine for a second with apparent unease, then meeting Kyo-san's and Yuki-san's. "I have work to do. You kid's have fun, okay?"

After Shigure-san left, there was an uncomfortable silence, finally broken by Arisa.

"Tohru . . . seems to have gotten used to this family," she said, quietly. "Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for her. I know that she didn't tell us about this so that she wouldn't worry us. . . . But . . . we promised in front of Kyoko's grave . . . that we'd be there when she needed us."

I suddenly felt as if I'd intruded on a private moment. I realised, right then, how little I've been there for Tohru-chan, and how little we've been through, nothing compared to what Arisa and Saki had been through with her.

"Tohru is our best friend. She's really important to us. She helps us all the time, but this time, we couldn't do anything for her. . . . I'm not proud of it. It's like, Tohru needs our help, and we as friends can't do anything. . . ."

"She wouldn't think like that," spoke up Kyo-san suddenly, gruffly.

"Honda-san . . ." Yuki-san said, "isn't the type of person to want things in return. She's not that kind of person." Saki peered over the top of _Summer-Colored Sigh_, her expression one of incredulous comprehension. I tried to meet his eyes, and, just as our gazes met, he looked away again, his eyes on the corner of the table.

My stomach felt suddenly heavy, and I shot up, embarrassed, and said I was going to go make more tea, ducking into the kitchen. In Shigure-san's cozy, traditional kitchen, I leaned against a counter, feeling suddenly a little sick.

Why? Why is it that he couldn't even look at my face when he so obviously was interested in knowing Tohru-chan, and knew her better than even me! The resentment came again, plus another feeling, one that had surfaced suddenly as if it was a word on the tip of my tongue. The feeling was a kind of malice towards, not Yuki-san, but Tohru-chan! And intense envy of her from that hazy part of my mind, the part that felt as if I was forgetting something every time I looked into his eyes. The feeling sickened me, and I was so confused.

Feelings were resurfacing from that broken part of my mind, as if a dam had broken. I looked at Yuki-san, in my mind's eye, in a completely different light. I admired him, as always, but now with a new intensity. And he took on such a significance as I had never known. He was important to me. Why?

I was suddenly aware that someone else was in the room with me. I whipped around and saw him again, Yuki-san, standing by the stove.

"Koba-san . . ." he started, and I felt disappointment well inside of me as I noticed his eyes locked on the burners. "Are you alright?"

"Oh, I'm fine!" I said in a weak imitation of cheer, in a voice that didn't sound like my own. "Really!"

He looked up finally, and when his eyes met mine, they stayed there, fixed and probing with intensity that overwhelmed me. "Are you ill?" he asked, sounding a bit more urgent.

"No!" I lied. "No, I feel fine."

My stomach lurched when his tense eyes slid from mine to the floor. "I'm sorry, Koba-san. . . . you know, if my cousins or I hurt your feelings or offended you in some way. . . ."

"Why can't you look at me? At my face?" I asked suddenly, unable to stop myself. Realising what I said, I hid my face in my hands, blushing deeply. When I pried my hands away, his eyes were back on mine, this time pitying and surprised, which, if anything, made me feel worse.

"I'm sorry," I said, embarrassed. "It's just something about . . . _us_ confuses me. Just the ways you and your cousins act around me. . . . Have I done something-?"

"You didn't do anything," he said shortly, his expression hard to read. "We're not mad at you. . . ."

"What are we?" I asked, my words hardly audible, that hazy part of my mind pushing words out of my mouth. "Do you feel it? It feels like I know you so much more than I really do. I want to be friends with you," I confessed. "I want to know you, but you . . . I don't know."

His expression was calculating, eyes still fixed on mine. Then something like a smile slid across his face, a real, handsome smile. "You know, I want to be friends with you, too. And there's nothing stopping me, really," he said, satisfied. I wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean, but suddenly, the weight in my stomach lifted. Suddenly, he himself looked embarrassed, too.

"Er, do you want to go back to the others?" he asked awkwardly. "Honda-san's back, and we were going to play dai hin min. . . ."

"Yeah," I said, nodding vigorously and smiling. "Let's go."

* * *

"Ow," groaned Arisa. "I yelled too much at Orangey. My throat's sore."

"You're bed is nice, too. . . ." Saki said to Tohru-chan, bouncing on it a little.

"Yes! Shigure bought it for me," Tohru-chan said happily.

"He dotes on you, doesn't he?" I asked, and Tohru-chan smiled.

It was late. Tohru-chan, Arisa, Saki and I were going to bed in Tohru-chan's room.

"I'm grateful," she said. "To him, and Sohma-kun and Kyo-kun, and to have you three friends, who support me. . . . I'd be an idiot not to be grateful."

For a while there was silence as we got ready to sleep. And then then Arisa said, "They really get you, don't they?"

"Huh?" Tohru-chan asked

"It's true," Saki said. "That's just how Tohru is. . . ."

And I knew they were speaking of Kyo-san and Yuki-san's knowledge of her. It didn't bother me anymore. I smiled as I went to sleep. It was okay. Yuki-san and I were friends now. He cared about me, too.

* * *

Yuki was awake in his bed, reading, though his focus was slipping away.

He and Minoru could be friends now. It was selfish, he knew, and he was liable to get into trouble for it. But what he'd said was right. As long as Akito didn't know, he couldn't stop him from befriending Minoru.

What she said, and what he knew she refrained from saying, worried him. Parts of her memory were resurfacing. . . . But for some reason, he found himself unconcerned. He smiled to himself, thinking about what could happen if Minoru's memory returned. About things going back to the way things were.

But he knew that if all of her memory returned, things better left forgotten would return, too. And if he really cared about her, he wouldn't let that happen.

But worries were slipping away, along with conscienceness as he fell into a contented sleep.


	8. The Dream

_The Dreams_

I'd fallen to sleep so quickly, so contentedly, so at peace among my friends (we were all sleeping in Tohru-chan's rather large bed; Shigure-san must be nice to her) that I never expected to have any dreams. Had I been aware, in my dream-state, that it was a dream, I'd have been surprised. Probably.

It started out in the school hallway. . . .

To my intense irritation, I was lost. How? It was only a high school! But still, every winding hallway looked the same, and, in the mass of neutral white and tiled floors, I was feeling claustrophobia creeping up on me, and, as my heartbeat quickened, my pace did as well.

Soon, I was running--now_ sprinting_--through the maze of halls, and suddenly, my one-track mind registered the ottering pile of books in my arms, a waving tower of papers and binders and reference and such. And, still sprinting, now balancing the giant stack, it finally registered the huge weight of it all. And I slipped on nothing except the tiled floor, and the books and papers crashed to earth. I fell on my back, hard, heavy books falling on top of me. I pushed them off and got back on my knees, and found, to my astonishment, and, much more, to my embarrassment, that Yuki-san was standing there.

I turned bright red, and tried to gather my books, but there were too many. I didn't want Yuki-san to see me like this, crawling on the floor to gather all the books I'd dropped. I stammered, no idea what I was saying, apologies and explanations and greetings, all in a garbled mess of words.

"Ah! Y-Yuki-san, I-er, I-" I was losing my breath. What was happening? I was lost, trying to explain my awkward behavior. "Sorry, Yuki-san, I dropped m-my . . . ah. . . Yuki-san!"

Yuki-san had turned away from me, probably embarrassed to be near me, and was walking away, down the endless hallways. Did he know the way out?

"Yuki-san! Wait!" I tried to catch up, so that we could find our way out together. But he didn't slow down for me, and I frantically tried to gather the books. "Wait!" I repeated. But he left me there in the hallway, and for some reason, tears picked the corners of my eyes. He left me alone without a second thought.

I ditched my books, sprinting as fast as I could, and I caught up to him! But when he turned around, his face frightened me. It was an anguished loathing, just like when I first met Sohma Kyo, that dominated his yes.

And then the dream changed. . . .

He wasn't Yuki-san anymore. His silver eyes had turned orange, matching his now-orange hair. He was Kyo-san now. I backed away a few steps and swung my eyes around, looking for Yuki-san. Kyo-san stood stock-still, a frozen expression on his face, but I had no curiosity to spare for him.

I finally caught sight of a pair of handsome silver eyes--but they were on the face of . . . a mouse. No, a rat! a little rodent, with the same now gentle eyes that Yuki-san always had. They were fixed, wide and scared, on Kyo-san. I looked back.

A pair of black-and-white beads lay at his feet. He seemed to be trembling. His pupils were dialated, and there was fear on his face when he turned his eyes on me. And suddenly . . . he wasn't Kyo-san anymore.

He was a giant, grotesque, reptilian monster! His eyes had become larger, and his irises had become red, his pupils reduced to scared, menacing slits. The familiar smell of rotting flesh reached my nostrils. He lept away, down the hallway, And I just stood there wanting to throw up, but unable to feel my mouth. I suddenly realised that Yuki-san, who I had somehow come to the revelation was the rat, had disappeared as well.

I was alone in the hallway again.

My eyes opened to the light of a new day, and I knew vaguely that I was alone in Tohru-chan's bed. I lay, panting, afraid to fall asleep again, and got up and pulled on some fresh clothes. . . .

* * *

Sohma Shigure was feeling on edge. He'd thought he'd made a good show of acting natural in fron of Minoru-kun, but he wasn't sure if he'd be able to stop himself from pulling out his hair for very long. This was odd for Shigure; he was usually a very calm, cool and collected person. But his life was now much more complicated than it was a week ago, even with the whole Sohma curse--whenever he was hugged by someone of the opposite sex, he would turn into a dog. Or when he was very stressed. As he was now. But he had good control over that part of him right now.

What was she doing _in his house_?! That did really seem stupid--what better way to remind her all of the things that it was most important that she forgot? This was all for her emotional and mental well-being. What if she remembered?

He remembered his meeting with Akito yesterday. He couldn't lie to Akito. He had to tell her about Minoru-kun. And he hated himself for it. Because he knew that Yuki didn't want to be seperated again. Ha didn't know how Yuki would react to being transfered to another school _again_, just to run away from someone that he cares about--the same someone that he cares about.

Shigure knew. He was smart, and he was observant, and he knew that Yuki harbored attatchments to Minoru-kun. Would he have to choose whose well-being he was going to protect? He remembered the cheerful Minoru-kun, the one from before. . . .

Akito's reaction to the news of Tohru-kun's new friend surprised Shigure. Akito didn't lose her temper. She didn't demand that Tohru-kun be kicked out of Shigure's house, nor did she order that Yuki and Kyo be transfered to a different high school.

"She's come back?" she sneered, a look of disgust on her face. "That complicates things, I suppose. . . . Well, if she remembers anything about Kyo's true form, I doubt she'll love Yuki. Not judging by how she reacted. . . . last time. . . ."

Shigure didn't flinch, but his insides felt kind of hollow.

Shigure had had a close relationship with Minoru-kun. She never had a father, and spent so much time around Yuki, and it was hard not to become attatched. No, he didn't treat her like a daughter, and he teased her just like he would anyone else, but deep down, he couldn't deny it, he cared for her, like a member of his own family, and he'd never wanted anything to happen to her, at leats nothing like the incident with Kyo. He never odjected to erasing her memory after she'd become depressed after seeing Kyo's true form. He wanted her and Yuki to be happy together, but he did care for her. He didn't want her to have to endure the pain of the revelation either.

"If she remembers Kyo's true form," Akito continued,"she will probably be emotionally damaged again." She said this in a bored, nonchalant kind of way, and the hollow feeling in Shigure's stomach became a bit more uncomfortable. "She'll probably want to leave. To run away. And we will let her." Her face was distinctly cold. "We should have never let her into our lives. "She'll just have to live with the pain she asks for."

So Shigure was to do nothing at all, and, sitting in his study, this seemed sadistic. How could he just sit by and watch Minoru-kun hurt herself?

* * *

I'd left Shigure-san's house some twenty minutes ago, and was walking home to my apartment. I'd just parted ways with Arisa and Saki, and it had been an awkward walk.

I wondered if Yuki-san noticed how I couldn't meet is eyes this morning. Or how I couldn't be in the same room as Kyo-san without trembling. The dream had just been . . . so real. Not one of those dreams that you forget by the next day, but the kind of dream that stays etched in my memory, lke it had happened to me again last night.

But it couldn't be real. I knew that. Kyo-san could _not_ be a monster, like I'd seen in the dream. But I wondered, my curiosity burning in my mind, what would happen if I took off his beads? I shuddered.

And what about rat-Yuki? Was my imagination particularly active last night? But somehow, the face of that rat that I knew was Yuki, somehow it seemed so familiar. Where had I seen it before.

I was confused. That hazy part of my mind had gotten some sunshine. . . . but now I was having odd nightmares. What did it mean?

I was at my apartment complex. I opened the door and stepped inside calling to see if my mother was home. It was Sunday morning, after all. She shouldn't be working until later.

"Mom? I'm home!" My voice seemed to echo in the tiny apartment.

"Minoru-chan!" My mom was here. She came out of the kitchen, her chocolate brown hair waving behind her, her emerald eyes the same exact shade as mine. She was actually a very pretty woman, tall and willowy, even if she was a mother. She was young for a mother of a teenager, anyway. My heart sank as I noticed her bag over her shoulder.

"Going somewhere?" I asked, trying to sound polite. I thought I'd be able to spend time with my mother for once.

"I gotta go to work, honey," she chided gently. "Sorry, Minoru-chan. I have to work early today. Sorry." And with that, she swept right past me, out the door to her job that she had to do because of me.

I knew it was true. If I'd not been born, she'd have finished high school, and maybe college, too. Mom usually discouraged me from thinking these thoughts. . . .

But she couldn't really comfort me. No one could in this home that was empty far too often. I missed the times when, in my old school, I could be with friends when I was feeling lonely. But Tohru-chan was far too busy nowadays to spend time with anyone outside of school, and Saki and Arisa only hung out with me because Tohru-chan insisted upon it. I sighed and sat on the sofe, my hands on my lap.

Outside the window, one bird sang a hopeful song. Just one bird.


End file.
